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Published: September 3rd 2006
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Thursday all of us took the midnight train to St.Petersburg. Russia is certainly full of suprises, good and bad. The train proved to be a good suprise. Four of us slept in each room. The beds were comfortable and they gave each of us a huge case full of snacks, breakfast food, tea, water bottles, cosmetics, and really everything you need for an overnight train ride. I actually was pretty tired by the time I got on the train so I didn't stay up partying.
When we arrived in St.Petersburg it looked so much like a European city. St. Petersburg was built in the 1700s by Peter the Great. It is located in Northwest Russia so that Russia would have a port to facilitate trade with the west. Peter the Great wanted the city to be the Venice of Russia and borrowed heavily from European architecture. The city is absolutely gorgeous. All architecture has to conform to a European style, so it is beautiful wherever you look. It isn't far from the sea and has canals running through it. In the center of the city, in the middle of a lake, there is the highest fountain in the world. It sprays
Group Shot
Group shot with Alec in the spotlight water up higher than just about any building in the city. We walked up 200 stairs to the highest point in the city and the fountain stood out more than anything else.
The feel of St.Petersburg is that it is a blend of Russian, European, and American culture. Walking down the street I heard many different European languages and often heard English. I nearly cried as I walked along the sidewalk. St.Petersburg felt like a touch of home. St. Petersburg isn't at all like a U.S. city, but is much more like the U.S. than Moscow. At one point I saw three signs in English in a nontouristy part of St.Petersburg.
On the first day we visited the Hermitage. The hermitage used to be the Tsars' palace. We saw the most beautiful paintings and were able to see the old throne room too.
By far the most impressive place we saw though was Peterhof. Peterhof was Peter the Great's estate. It is located on an island about 40 minutes from St.Petersburg. Most of the island is heavily forested. The trees are large, many of them have been around for hundreds of years. Underneath the trees there is practically no underbrush.
Church of Spilled Blood
This church was built to commemerate a murdered Tsar At least not like we have in the US. There are small green plants growing low to the ground, but one could still walk easily off the path into the woods. However, this is seen as unacceptable. Some students were yelled at when they went off the path.
Peter the Great's mansion is the most incredible building I have ever seen. As you walk up to the palace you see these huge waterfall cascading off the palace into a marble pool below. All along the pool there are beautiful golden statues.
As you walk through the park there are many unusual fountains. Peter the Great loved to play jokes so he created many benches that spray water up at you when you sit down. No pumps were used in creating the fountains. There is a lake above Peterhoff and the architects used elevation to power the fountains. Probably the most amusing fountain I saw was this enormous foutain cascading off of a 100 some foot tall chess board. On the top of the chess board there were huge dragons. Arcitects designed the fountain so that Peter the Great could flood the path directly in front of the fountain whenever he
Gypsy Kids
They ran through the steets of St.Pete playing with a roll of toilet paper wanted. So whenever he had a bunch of nobles over for a party, he would turn the fountain on and drench all the nobles below. Now the fountain only goes off at 3pm every day so people can see how it works.
Besides the main events we all saw many other interesting things in Petersburg. When we were walking to the boat launch we saw a woman walking her baby pet bear through a park. She stopped at a bench to feed it through a milk bottle. It was soo cute and I got to pet it. It's fur was really fluffy.
Another thing we saw was a "chocolate museum". It is a little shop that sell chocolate chess pieces, chocolate busts of Lenin, chocolate bride and grooms, and chocolate anything else you can imagine. And to get people to come to the museum they hired a very dark black man to stand in the entrance dressed in an entirely white 17th century costume and wearing a white wig. I guess he's supposed to be chocolate too.There are pretty much no black people in Russia so I guarentee you that his skin color is no coincidence.
Its unfortunate we were
only able to spend 2 days in Petersburg. There is so much more to see. I'm definitely going back there sometime before I leave. It was somewhat sad to go too because it reminded me of home. It is much more modern and European than Moscow. There are internet cafes all over St.Petersburg and so far I've only found two in Moscow. And people in stores usually speak some English. And we can order from English speaking menus (in Moscow most restaurants have English language menus but they are pointless because the staff speaks no English).
I even met someone from Ann Arbor, Michigan who is now working as a missionary in St.Peters. He spends his free time volunteering at the Hermitage. There were so many English speaking people at the Hermitage I couldn't believe it. Tons of people come from England and the U.S. to visit Petersburg so we heard English all the time.
Ohhh I am going to miss Petersburg.
Well now I am back in the heart of Russia, for better and worse.
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Kira
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St. Petersburg
You seem to really like the city! Do you wish you had studied there instead of in Moscow? Or are you glad that you are in a more Russian city where you're forced to learn the language and culture? ...Just curious.